Progress Reports

Recent Progress Reports

District provides Chromebooks to students and staffBartlesville Public Schools has been working to improve its instructional technology, drawing upon bond issue funding approved by voters as well as community donations and federal grants.Here's an ...
Posted Jan 25, 2018, 5:05 PM by Granger Meador

December 2017 Construction UpdateBond Issue Construction Update SlideshowKeleher Architects presented an update at the school board’s December 2017 meeting about various construction projects at each secondary school. These projects were all ...
Posted Dec 19, 2017, 1:39 PM by Granger Meador

Bond issue projects status report for 8/1/2017Many bond-funded projects have been going on in the district this summer. New buses and people-movers, furnishings, technology, and various renovations will benefit students when they return to ...
Posted Aug 1, 2017, 2:36 PM by Granger Meador

Construction Update, 6/19/2017During the June 19, 2017 meeting of the Bartlesville Board of Education, Keleher Architects shared an update on the construction projects funded by the 2016 bond issue.
The new softball ...
Posted Jun 20, 2017, 2:18 AM by Granger Meador

Bond projects update at the start of summer 2017BUSES ARRIVE
All 15 new route buses and one of two new activity buses have arrived. An additional activity bus and two people-movers, all with Bruins graphics, will arrive ...
Posted Jun 19, 2017, 9:04 AM by Granger Meador

Voters approved $19.4 million over a five year period for multiple purposes:

Saving Jobs & Preserving Class Sizes

The primary focus of the bond issue is to compensate for huge cuts in state funding since 2009. The district suffered multiple state revenue shortfalls in 2016 and cut 5% of its teachers as well additional administrators and support staff.

The bond will allow the district to shift more operational costs from its general fund to bond issue funds to hopefully prevent additional staffing cuts and increases in class sizes in 2017. The bond expands on operational funding already being provided via a 2012 bond issue and extends that expanded support for two additional years. It is projected that 15 or more teaching positions can be preserved from future cuts by shifting operational costs to bond funds.

Improving Instructional Technology, Equipment, and Facilities

The bond will provide students with the instructional technology other districts now offer but which our students lack. Since the state has now cut all textbook funding, the bond will provide both physical and digital textbooks. The bond will support and expand new STEM programs in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. It will also maintain buildings and update classrooms and their furnishings that are up to 99 years old.

Targeted High-Priority Renovations

The bond will also provide improvements in existing facilities previously identified as top priorities by community members on the district's Long Range Facilities Planning Committee, but which bond capacity limits prevented us from addressing in the 2013 reconfiguration bond issue.

August 2017 Freshman Academy Chromebook Rollout Video

Bartlesville Public Schools has been working to improve its instructional technology, drawing upon bond issue funding approved by voters as well as community donations and federal grants.

Here's an overview of the progress made since 2016 on the district's Student Computing Initiative, which is transforming the learning environment.

Chromebooks for Students

In August 2016, district voters approved a bond issue that included funding to gradually deploy Chromebooks to all secondary students over four years.

The district's long-term plan for student computing devices

In fall 2016 the district purchased a dozen Chromebook charging carts with a total of almost 400 Chromebooks. The photo shows several of the high school teachers who volunteered to help wire up the carts. The carts have been used since then in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grade English classrooms.

In 2016-2017, 29 teachers set up 52 online courses at the high school in its new Canvas Learning Management System. That year 1,222 students completed 2,321 assignments in Canvas and participated in 946 electronic discussions.

This heavy adoption, before any take-home devices were deployed, was promoted by an online Kung Fu Canvascourse of instructional videos and assignments, given inside of Canvas, to high school teachers. Teachers received instructional equipment incentives they could use in their teaching as they completed each of six phases of training, earning different Kung Fu Canvas "Belts".

By May 2017, 88 teachers at the high school had earned three belts, completing the first half of that training, and they have the opportunity to earn the remaining belts this academic year. By the end of the first semester of 2017-2018, 34 teachers had completed the entire training course, earning all six belts. Granger Meador, who leads the program as the district's Executive Director of Technology and Communication, expects many more will continue working through the training this year, spurred on by equipment incentives, the opportunity to make up an inclement weather day via in-service points, and their desire to harness the new technology to improve their students' learning.

Granger Meador issues a Chromebook to a Freshman Academy student

This school year, 444 Chromebooks have been issued to freshmen for use both at school and at home. Each Chromebook has its own always-on case with a stitched Bruins logo.

The take-home Chromebooks in the Freshman Academy and the Chromebook carts in the 10-12 English classrooms have led 69 teachers to offer 118 courses in Canvas to 1,677 students at the high school. Those students submitted almost 3,000 digital assignments in the first semester.

The shift to digital assignments has already dramatically changed college instruction and is making its way into the nation's secondary schools. A 2016 meta-analysis of 65 journal articles and 31 doctoral dissertations concluded that providing each student with a computing device led to:

significantly increased academic achievement in science, writing, math, and English

more student-centered, individualized, and project-based instruction

enhanced engagement and enthusiasm among students

improved teacher-student and parent-school relationships

Realizing that a $250 device with charger and carrying case that travels to and from school each day would carry risks of damage and loss, over 400 of the Freshman Academy students' parents opted to purchase a $25 annual insurance plan which provides full damage/loss coverage for a first incident and half coverage for a second one during the year. The district runs the insurance program and uses the premiums to operate its new Student Technology Support Team (STST) classes at the high school.

Wendy Meador, a certified high school teacher who had previous experience in technical support and PC repair before she began teaching in Bartlesville in 2007, leads the STST. The class had six student technicians in its first semester and seven for its second semester. These students offered troubleshooting, maintenance, and repair for all high school Chromebooks, with about 1/4 of the freshmen using their services during the first semester.

The student technicians have found that rebooting or reinstalling the Chrome operating system are the most common solutions for a mind-bogglingly diverse mix of user issues. Some Chromebooks suffer hardware failures such as power issues or cracked screens, like the one that STST member Andrea Hernandez prepares to replace in the photo below. The students created a video highlighting common issues.

Students' Chromebook Safety Video

Ms. Meador reported that 7% of insured students had damage/loss incidents in the first semester, including 19 cracked screens. While Dell did not consider the glued-in screens replaceable parts, Ms. Meador used the insurance premiums to purchase replacements, and her students successfully repaired the devices. In the photo, STST members Olive Foust, Artturi DeBlieck, and Logan Gray are shown replacing Chromebook screens.

Student Technology Support Team students repairing Chromebooks

Ms. Meador and her students also support technology throughout the school and assist with deployment and support of staff Chromebooks throughout the district. Current freshmen, sophomores, and juniors may apply to join the program next year, when the STST will be supporting over 1,600 take-home student Chromebooks at the high school, over 500 classroom-based student Chromebooks moving from the high school to the two middle schools, and about 500 Chromebooks used by staff members across the district.

The interior of a Chromebook being serviced by the STST

Chromebooks for Staff

It was important for high school staff to have their own Chromebooks in 2016-2017 to help them train and prepare for using them in their instruction. Staff Chromebooks have also made meetings more productive and reduced wasted paper, promoting collaborative work on documents, presentations, and data analysis.

In early January 2018, a federal grant allowed the district to purchase 340 Chromebooks for elementary and middle school staff members. To have them ready for the mid-January in-service day, in only four days the Student Technology Support Team, with the help of the district's Technology Services department one morning plus continuing help from high school librarian Kim Lashbrook and library aides, prepared the devices and outfitted them with cases, chargers, cleaning cloths, stickers, and instructional manuals.

The Student Technology Support Team, with the help of the district's Technology Services department one morning plus continuing help from high school librarian Kim Lashbrook and library aides, prepared 340 Chromebooks in early January for the district's elementary and middle school teachers

To help support this deployment, on January 15, 2018 district teachers provided over 21 different 50-minute technology training sessions to their fellow secondary school teachers. The topics included creating video lessons with a Chromebook, creating digital assignments and quizzes in Canvas, tips and tricks for using Chromebooks, and much more.

Elementary school teachers using their new Chromebooks at a staff meeting

The January inservice day also provided additional teacher training on the STEM Launch computer science modules which are being piloted in all kindergarten through fifth grade classes. Those modules make use of equipment and iPad carts funded by earlier grants from the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation and ConocoPhillips. Fundraising continues on a $100,000 goal of the Bartlesville Public Schools Foundation to support another set of iPad carts with Biomedical and Engineering modules for 2018-2019.

All kindergarten through fifth grade classes are using iPads in the new STEM Launch computer science modules

After the second wave of iPad carts is put to use in the elementary schools in 2018-2019, the district expects to be adding a mix of classroom-based Chromebooks and iPads at each elementary school.

District Support

At a recent school board meeting, Mr. Meador highlighted the efforts of Technology Services Director Lori Patterson and the eight technicians she supervises. They keep all of the technology in the district running, including the network infrastructure and services that make it possible for thousands of students and staff to use their Chromebooks, iPads, desktop computers, and printers.

Ms. Patterson and the technicians support all sorts of technology beyond the obvious computing devices and their wireless and wired networks, including electronic whiteboards, telephones, clocks, intercoms, and security cameras. Needless to say, their expertise is greatly appreciated.

With the continued elimination of state programs for professional development due to inadequate funding, Bartlesville teachers have had to help each other in an era of constant technological change. Technology Services is assisted by teachers and other staff members at each school site who help troubleshoot and address problems, including teachers at the larger middle schools and high school who receive extra duty stipends as site technology assistants.

Each school also has a teacher who receives an extra duty stipend to provide site-based technology training. Their efforts are coordinated by Laura Salzyn, one of the Teacher Specialists at the district's Education Service Center. Laura also assists with curricular assessments throughout the district.

Angie Linthacum is the district's other Teacher Specialist. She assists with the STEM Launch program and also coordinates the district's English Language Development program which supports students coming from homes where languages other than English are used.

We are working together to modernize our schools

Even in this era of inadequate state budgets, the support of our community and our talented students and staff are allowing us to modernize our schools. The district has made tremendous progress in its use of instructional technology since the successful 2016 bond issue. Continued support from district voters in future bond issues will be critical to maintaining the secondary Chromebook program and expanding the use of computing devices in the elementary schools. This is a long-term investment that promises great rewards in the years to come.

Keleher Architects presented an update at the school board’s December 2017 meeting about various construction projects at each secondary school. These projects were all funded by the August 2016 bond issue.

Central Middle School

The main level of the auditorium has new seats. The historic seating in the balcony was retained, but a safety railing has been installed, with thick glass panels to avoid obstructing sight lines.

Custer Stadium

Renovations continue in the bottom level of the stadium to finally provide locker rooms for track, cross country, tennis, and girls soccer while updating the visitor dressing room and boys football/soccer locker room. Flooring is being installed, including epoxy flooring in the new showers. Light fixture installations are almost complete, and painting is underway.

Madison Middle School

Like the auditorium at Central, the one at Madison also has new seating.

The new locker room and dugouts at the softball field are complete. Both gymnasiums have received some updates, with floors to be refinished over Winter Break.Renovations are wrapping up in a former locker room area to provide more space for the music programs. Part of it was used for a new choir room, with the former choir room renovated to finally provide a dedicated room for the orchestra program. The existing band room was also renovated. The remainder of the old locker room area has been reconfigured to provide music storage and practice rooms and renovated locker areas for physical education.

Keleher reported that flooring is complete in most areas and there would be a punch-list walk-through once remaining doors and acoustical panels arrive and are installed.

Madison & Hoover Drives

The Board of Education approved a change order to address issues with the asphalt drives at Hoover Elementary and adjacent Madison Middle School. The application of a second layer of asphalt was halted earlier this year when it became apparent that the first layer had deformed significantly despite the area having been prepared and passing previous soil compaction tests.

Civil engineers were consulted and determined that subsurface water was flowing across the area atop buried layers of rock. They recommended that French drains be installed around the high side of the new drive at Madison as well as just north of Hoover Elementary to catch and divert the subsurface water, redirecting it to storm drains.

The existing damaged asphalt will be removed, the French drains constructed and tied in, and then new asphalt will be installed. Despite this setback, the total cost of the construction projects from the bond issue remains within the originally budgeted amount.

Many bond-funded projects have been going on in the district this summer. New buses and people-movers, furnishings, technology, and various renovations will benefit students when they return to school on Thursday, August 17.

However, a primary focus of the August 2016 bond issue was saving teaching jobs and preserving class sizes amidst years of declining state funding for public schools. Thanks to the bond issue and the painful personnel cuts made going into the 2016-2017 school year, the district has not had to cut teachers nor student programs for 2017-2018. It also has rebuilt its fund balance to the minimum safe 7% level.

This is significant, since during the 2017 fiscal year overall state appropriations to the district were down another $450,000, due to continued shortfalls in revenue. This was on top of years of prior reductions and shortfalls.

An online slideshow documents the progress the district is making even in these difficult times for public schools, thanks to the continued support of local voters. A printable PDF version is attached to the end of this post.

BUSES ARRIVE

All 15 new route buses and one of two new activity buses have arrived. An additional activity bus and two people-movers, all with Bruins graphics, will arrive later.

Both new activity buses and two additional people-movers will feature extensive Bruins graphics

The activity buses feature large, comfortable charter-bus style seats, storage racks, individualized lighting, individualized air conditioning vents, and USB ports for the passengers to use for electronic devices. This will be a boon to students on long trips to and from away games.

The second activity bus is scheduled to arrive before the end of June. The two people-mover mini-buses are out of the factory and are now receiving interior updates. The should arrive by the end of June.

With most of the new buses in place, the district will be holding an auction on Friday, June 16, 2017 at 10 a.m. at Madison Middle School for 15 old but driveable route buses, 3 non-driveable buses, a couple of other vehicles, and the old graduation stage.

PROGRESS ON ATHLETICS FACILITIES

Tennis courts usable by team and nearly complete

The tennis courts were put into use by the team before the end of the school year, after the contractor conformed the fencing and surface markings to the plans. The windscreens are up and the lighting should become operational in the second week of June.

The tennis courts are complete except for some lighting work

Indoor practice facility renovations come to a close

The Bruin Activity Center renovations, which segmented the final bay of the existing facility into an weight room for the athletics program and a practice space for the cheerleaders, have come to a close. In the shots below, the only missing elements are some graphics.

These two spaces now include full climate control, an improvement over the spaces they used to occupy in the 1968 additions to the 1939 Phillips Field House. The larger 1968 auxiliary gym can now be dedicated to the school's physical education classes, while the smaller gym, which for many years was a weight room, will soon be renovated into a practice space for the pom program.

Half of the final bay of the Bruin Activity Center, the indoor practice facility located south of 18th Street at the high school, is now a great space for the cheerleading program; the program will also have offices and locker space in the Phillips Field House once its renovations are completed

The other half of the final bay of the Bruin Activity Center is now an athletics weight room; the physical education weight room remains in the Phillips Field House

Another view of the athletics room, showing the wall separating that bay from the rest of the indoor practice facility; HVAC units were added to serve both the cheerleading and athletics weight room spaces

Softball locker room construction continues

The heavy spring rains slowed its progress, but construction continues on the new locker room and dugouts at the softball field located at Madison Middle School. The locker room walls have been built, the dugouts are framed, and trusses are on site and should be installed soon.

The walls are built for the new softball locker room

The dugout walls are completed at the softball field

Doenges Stadium making good progress

The locker room renovation at Doenges Stadium has been completed. The carpet in the press box has been installed and minor repairs to the walls are being done. The guest press box floor has been repaired.

The locker room renovations at Doenges Stadium are complete

Carpeting and general refreshes at Doenges Stadium

The pressbox at the stadium has been improved

NEW PROJECTS UNDERWAY AT FIVE SITES

Music Program Improvements

The recent bond issue projects at the secondary schools will reallocate and renovate over 7,000 square feet of existing space for the district's music programs.

The start of summer break means five additional projects are now underway across the district.

Extracurricular programs which have had inadequate spaces for years are benefiting from the construction and renovation projects.

Phillips Field House & FAC renovations begin

At Bartlesville High School, demolition has begun on areas of the 1939 Phillips Field House and one room in the 2004 Fine Arts Center to provide additional space for the music programs. Those programs increased in size at the high school with the addition of grades 9 and 10 to the campus in 2015-2016.

The former FLEX computer lab in the Fine Arts Center will be renovated into an additional ensemble space for choir, while a ramp connection will be made in the existing band room into the adjoining 1939 Phillips Field House. The old auto shop in the field house later was a journalism lab and in recent years was used by the pom program. That area and an adjoining former classroom are being renovated into an additional instrumental music room and musical instrument and uniform storage.

The Phillips Field House was already helping out the music programs. The 2013 bond issue for the reconfiguration to grades 9-12 at Bartlesville High School funded a renovation of the former training room on the lowest level of the southeast corner of the field house into a percussion room with a ramp leading up in the main ensemble room in the adjoining Fine Arts Center.

Both the music and athletics programs will benefit from renovations of the 1939 Phillips Field House and its 1968 addition and the addition of a ramp in the band room and renovation of one room in the 2004 Fine Arts Center

Much of the remainder of the 1939 Phillips Field House and its 1968 addition will also be renovated to benefit a variety of athletics programs. The pom program will gain a locker room from a former classroom. The smaller auxiliary gym, which for years has been a weight room, will become a much-improved pom practice space.

Various offices and locker rooms between the main gym and the north auxiliary gym will be renovated to improve the weight room area and locker rooms for physical education and provide improved locker room and other spaces for the cheerleading and wrestling programs. The wrestling practice room will be renovated and expanded.

Madison renovations begin

The renovations at Madison Middle School have also begun. They will bring improvements for transportation, climate control, the auditorium, and the music programs.

Bus Loop

A loop around the building will be constructed to separate buses from personal vehicles, improving traffic and safety before and after school. Buses will then be able to pick up and drop off at the commons area on the north side of the school, while parent pick-up and drop-off will remain in the loop drive off Baylor.

Dedicated Band, Choir, and Orchestra Rooms

The former Sooner High/Mid-High facility has never had separate rooms for band and orchestra, so the auditorium stage was in daily use for practice, impeding its other uses. The building of the softball locker room, which is the only new square footage in the entire 2016 bond issue, will free up space in the main building so that locker rooms just north of the auditorium can be reconfigured.

The choir program will be moving to space in the reconfigured area, allowing the orchestra program to use the former choir room. The locker room area reconfiguration will also provide an additional breakout room and storage for the music programs, while still providing appropriate locker rooms for girls and boys taking physical education classes.

Auditorium Improvements

The auditorium seats will be replaced with ones like those in the Fine Arts Center at the high school. The finishes and systems in the stage area and auditorium will be refreshed where needed.

HVAC Upgrade

The original steam heating system, which has been serving portions of the site since it was constructed in the late 1960s, will finally be replaced with a modern and energy efficient system with on-demand heating and cooling.

Central auditorium update

The auditorium was the only part of Central Middle School that was not renovated in the 2013 bond issue. Now the seats on its main level will be replaced with ones like those at the high school Fine Arts Center, while the historic seats will remain in the balcony. Plaster rot will be addressed, worn carpet replaced, and there will be a safety update for the balcony rail and updates to the audiovisual system.

Jane Phillips & Hoover finish refreshes

Previous bond issues renovated the corridors of the other four district elementary schools, but Hoover and Jane Phillips had not been refreshed. Paint and carpet and other finish refreshes will bring those sites up to par. Some exterior panel issues at both sites and a parking lot issue at Jane Phillips will also be addressed.

OTHER PROJECTS

Furniture

Carpet

Worn carpet at many sites will be replaced. Shown here is a classroom at Richard Kane Elementary School with its new carpet.

Elementary playgrounds

Bids were received in early June to replace the pea gravel at all of the elementary playgrounds with a safer modern material, and the deteriorated edge timbers will be replaced.

Custer Stadium locker rooms

Bids will be received in mid-June on the last major renovation project in the 2016 bond issue. The lowest level of Custer Stadium will be renovated to finally provide locker rooms for track, cross country, and tennis as well as space for girls soccer.

Hoover/Madison driveway

Bids will be received in mid-June to build a loop drive around Hoover Elementary to improve traffic and pedestrian safety.

CHROMEBOOKS FOR FRESHMEN

Help for Parents

Parents and students can get online help with the district's new Chromebooks at BPSCHROMEBOOK.COM.

They can also get online help with the Canvas Learning Management System at BPSCANVAS.COM. Canvas will be available for students and teachers to use in grades 6-12 in 2017-2018.

The 2016 bond issue also provided funding for a variety of technology improvements, focused on a Student Computing Initiative to phase in devices students can use at school and at home.

In August 2017 all freshmen at Bartlesville High School will receive a new Chromebook. These cloud-based computers are inexpensive but powerful ways to modernize instruction.

A parent or guardian must be present with each freshman student to check out the Chromebook. The first check-out will be after the Bruin Camp on Friday, August 4, with the remainder to be checked out on Thursday, August 10. On 8/10, Chromebooks will be distributed as part of schedule pick-up from 8:30-11 a.m. and from 12:30-3 p.m., with an evening Chromebook checkout from 5-7:30 p.m.

In August the district plans to provide parents the opportunity to purchase Chromebook insurance online with a credit card. There will also be credit card, check, and cash insurance sales on the August 4 and August 10 pick-up days. The $30 insurance plan fully covers the first incident a student might have with accidental damage to a Chromebook, and covers half the cost of a second incident.

A new Student Technology Support Team class at the high school will handle Chromebook repairs and usage issues as well as assist staff with various technology needs.

Canvas across grades 6-12 in 2017-2018

More teachers will be using the Canvas Learning Management System to provide class calendars and assignments to students. All freshmen will begin submitting some digital assignments in their classes for teachers to grade online. Teachers can also use the district's G Suite for Education applications to allow students to complete some assignments while offline, uploading them when they return to campus.

Chromebooks and iPads rolling out in future years

In 2018-2019, all students in grades 9-12 will have Chromebooks for use at school and at home. In 2019-2020, Chromebooks will be provided for all students in grades 6-12, while additional Chromebook and iPad carts will be provided for students in the elementary schools in later years. (The iPad carts for each elementary school's new STEM Launch modules are being funded by community donations, not bond funds, which must be allocated to secondary Chromebook deployment for several years.)

These devices will allow the district to gradually reduce its operating expenses for paper and physical textbooks, although some use of both will be retained. They will also allow the district to eventually phase out non-dedicated computer labs in the secondary schools.

Whew! That's a lot to report on, with much more to come in the future. THANK YOU Bartlesville, for making this possible in this era of inadequate state funding for our public schools.

Tennis Courts work will continue in May

Construction work on the new tennis courts at BHS will continue for awhile longer. In addition to finalizing the areas around the courts and laying sod, inspection of the fencing and court placement revealed some court and fence placements did not conform to the plans.

So on May 1 the new courts will be closed so that corrections can be made. The cost of shifting the fencing and net poles and providing two new coats of court colors to match the placements in the specifications will be borne by the contractor.

The district has been impressed by the quality of the materials and surfaces provided by the contractor. Superintendent McCauley said, "The contractor has been great to work with, and we are confident these fixes will provide us with superb courts for our tennis teams that match precisely with the bid specifications."

This project is still coming in overall less than the original purchase order.

Some work will be done in May to conform the new tennis courts to the plans.

Bruin Activity Center remodel is almost complete

The new athletics weight room and cheer room in the indoor practice facility should receive occupancy clearance soon, after cleaning and clearing final punch list items.

Doenges Stadium renovations are 90% complete

New lighting and flooring have been installed. Now waiting on the delivery of lockers to complete the work. They are scheduled to arrive the second week of May

Softball field work slowed by rains

The work at the softball field west of Madison Middle School has been greatly slowed by spring rains. But new dugouts and locker room slabs have been poured and concrete block work is starting first on the dugouts and then on the locker room.

More buses arrive

Transportation Manager Orville Burks reported that four more new route buses arrived on Friday, 4/28.

Bids status update

Bids have been received on the renovations for Madison Middle School and the auditorium seating projects at Madison and Central middle schools. The architects are working on contractor schedules.

Several bids come in the first week of May:

Hoover Elementary School and Central Middle School renovations

Jane Phillips Elementary School renovation

Boiler replacements for Bartlesville High School and Ranch Heights Elementary School

The architectural drawings for the driveways at Madison Middle School and Hoover Elementary School and for the remodel of the bottom level of Custer Stadium are 90% complete and should be completed in early May.

General fund relief partially offsets continued state revenue failures

Outside of the various construction projects, the prime motivation for the August 2016 bond issue was to shift some operating expenses from the district's general fund, allowing its fund balance to recover and to offset continued cuts in state funding. The funding collected since the bonds were sold in late 2016 has allowed $450,000 in general revenue expenses to be shifted to bond funds.

This bond funding has helped the district absorb about half of the net state revenue reduction it is expected to suffer by June. Those revenue failures mean our district fund balance at the end of the fiscal year will be around 7%, whereas a few months ago we were on track to end at around 10%.

Regrettably, state leaders have repeatedly failed to address the structural deficit in the state's budget caused by repeated income tax cuts, various corporate and industry tax breaks, various off-the-top funding streams, and failure to budget for the long-term economic cycles of the petroleum industry. Instead, in recent years they have relied on one-time money, a state roads bond issue, and draining various fund balances to balance the state budget. The schools suffered repeated state revenue failures in 2016 and now that has recurred in 2017 because the various financial tricks are now played out, with fund balances so low that cash flow problems in the 1017 Fund now directly impact schools after their budgets are adopted and employee contracts are signed.

So it has been up to the district and local voters to make up for the state's fiscal failures. The district is on track for over $1.3 million in personnel cost reductions in 2016-2017 and has implemented another administrative streamlining for 2017-2018 that should save an additional $160,000. The 2016 bond issue, which allowed $450,000 in general fund expenses to be shifted to bond funding in 2016-2017, will allow $700,000 to be shifted in 2017-2018.

So the bond issue is why the district is not expecting other significant personnel reductions for 2017-2018, which will preserve programs and class sizes for its students. THANK YOU, BARTLESVILLE, FOR HELPING US WEATHER THIS STORM. However, unless the state addresses its revenue problems, we can expect additional staff cuts in future years and a worsening of the teacher shortage due to low teacher salaries.

The new courts feature walkways on the north and south sides providing access to a new seating area in the middle of the court complex. Wind screens on the north and south sides will eventually feature the Bruins logo. The courts meet USTA US Open specifications. The bid came in low enough that lighting could be added on six poles, operable by a cell phone application and with an auto timer. The former lower parking lot west of the courts will become a green space, with alleyway parking spots that have been repoured.

In August 2016, 73% of participating district voters approved the $1.95 million transportation bond issue. The main selling point for that bond issue was to update the district's bus fleet with 15 new route buses, replacing buses dating back to 1998 or earlier.

Two brand new route buses were received on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 and promptly put into service. The district hopes to have a couple more in service the following week. All 15 of the new route buses should be received by May 2017.

The new buses will be both cheaper to operate and to maintain than the old buses being retired. This will reduce the district's operating costs as it faces continued state revenue failures for public education.

The community also passed the $17.5 million bond issue in August to support district operations. This has made it possible for the district to shift $450,000 in general fund expenses to bond funding for the current fiscal year (the bonds could not be sold until December, partway through the fiscal year). This is helping the district weather a projected $900,000 net loss in state funding for the 2016-2017 school year.

Installation of fencing and light poles is now underway. The new courts will feature walkways on the north and south sides providing access to a new seating area in the middle of the court complex. Wind screens on the north and south sides will feature the Bruins logo.

This facility replaces five decrepit courts which were the worst in the conference, with unsafe surfaces, inadequate seating, and too few courts for tournaments.

Softball Complex

Footings, dirt work and concrete block installation have started on the new softball locker room at Madison Middle School.

The old dugouts have been removed and new ones started.

The softball area at Madison Middle School serves all secondary grade levels. When the new locker room is complete, students will no longer have to travel across parking lots to use old locker rooms in the Madison building. That will free up space for more music practice and storage rooms. The approximately 1,000 square foot softball locker room and the dugouts are the only newly built spaces in the bond issue; all other projects renovate existing spaces.

Bids will be received on April 13, 2017 on the overall Madison Middle School renovation project, which includes improvements in its auditorium and nearby spaces for choir, band, and orchestra.

Bruin Activity Center

Internal walls and lighting have been installed to carve out dedicated spaces for an athletics weight room and for cheerleading inside the existing indoor practice facility. Ductwork and HVAC is now being installed, and painting is underway.

The relocation of the athletics weight room from the smaller of the two auxiliary gyms in the Phillips Field House will free up space to relocate the pom program and provide additional space in the Phillips Field House for band and orchestra use.

The cheerleading program's relocation to dedicated space in the Bruin Activity Center will allow them to dispense with daily movement of a bunch of mats in the larger auxiliary gym, which is used for physical education classes. A cheerleading office and locker room will be on the east side of the Phillips Field House adjoining the larger auxiliary gym.

Doenges Stadium

On the baseball front, at the Bill Doenges Memorial Stadium ceiling tile has been installed in the pressbox, HVAC units have been installed, and light installation is underway. The locker and weight rooms are now painted:

The transfer of the stadium to the district has made it possible to finally fix the leaky roof, a problem the city had been unable to address. The stadium floor joint seals have also been repaired:

Bid Packages

Bids will be received on several projects in April 2017:

Furniture Package (all sites), April 4

High School Phillips Field House Renovation, April 11

Madison Middle School Renovation, April 13

Drawings will be out to contractors on April 5 for them to develop bids on these additional projects:

Central Middle School Auditorium Renovation

Jane Phillips Elementary School Renovation

Hoover Elementary School Renovation

Hoover Elementary and Madison Middle School Access Roads

Drawings will be out to contractors on April 15 for them to develop bids on:

Custer Stadium Renovation

You can find more onlineabout these various facility renovations, which were part of the 2016 Bond Issue. None of these needed improvements would be possible without the support of local voters.

The successful August 2016 bond issues for the Bartlesville Public Schools were motivated primarily by repeated shortfalls in state funding in early 2016. Repeated cuts in state funding since 2008 had led to a reduction in the district fund balance from 15% to below 6%, a level too low to ensure it could cover its December payroll as it awaited receipt of property tax revenues in January.

So for the 2016-2017 school year, the district cut 5% of its teachers and additional administrators and support staff to address the continued loss of revenue from the state. But the district wisely did not trust that the state economy would improve nor that the legislature and governor would adequately fund public education and other state services. Since state leaders had failed to address school funding shortfalls since 2008, the district decided to seek help from local voters.

State Leads Nation in School Funding Cuts

Nearly 27 percent of state per pupil funding, adjusted for inflation, has been cut since 2008. That figure not only leads the nation but is nearly double the percentage of cuts made by Alabama, the second worst state for education funding reductions.

The district went to voters in August 2016, asking them to increase local property taxes in order to shift at least $700,000 in additional annual operating expenses from the district's general fund to bond funds. The district projected that 15 or more teaching positions could be preserved from future cuts by this action. Local voters overwhelmingly approved, with 70% and 73% voting YES on two bond issues.

MORE STATE REVENUE FAILURES

During the current school year, the state has again had revenue failures in both its general fund and in dedicated funding sources for public schools. Preston Birk, the district's Chief Financial Officer, reported on 3/20/2017 to the Bartlesville Board of Education that the district is down $380,000 in state appropriated revenue from the already dismal funding from the prior year. At the current pace, he projected the district might be losing an additional $750,000 in state funding over the entire 2016-2017 school year.

BOND ISSUES ARE HELPING PREVENT ADDITIONAL TEACHER CUTS

The good news is that the district is currently NOT planning on any reduction in teachers nor an increase in average class sizes for 2017-2018 despite the continued reduction in state funding. The shifting of expenses to the bond issues is clearly a key reason for that happy outcome, along with additional administrative streamlining for 2017-2018 and the staffing cuts already implemented in 2016-2017.

FUND BALANCE SLOWLY RECOVERING

Mr. Birk reported that, with the staffing cuts and shifting of expenses to bond funds, the fund balance is projected to be at or above the minimum safe 7% level by the end of the fiscal year. Hopefully it might approach 8%.

YOUR SCHOOLS NEED HELP FROM YOUR STATE GOVERNMENT

Oklahoma is in an education funding crisis. Teacher salaries are so low that Bartlesville and other districts statewide are unable to find certified teachers for all open positions, even with large staffing cuts.

District operating revenues are so low that the district has had to ask voters to raise local property taxes to make up for the massive reductions in state funding. If, as projected, the district loses another $750,000 in state funding by the end of this school year, that will exceed the operational expense shifts provided by the bond issues. So the remaining loss and any additional future cuts will have to be borne by past and future staffing cuts.

Bartlesville voters can be proud that their support is why their district has some of the lowest average class sizes among the state's large 6A districts. But until there is a change in attitude and support for schools in state government, the district will continue to be unable to find enough certified teachers to fill open positions. And if funding shortfalls are not addressed, eventually the district will be forced to cut more teachers and raise class sizes further.

EDUCATION LEGISLATIVE FORUM ON APRIL 7

Our local legislators - Rep. Earl Sears, Rep. Travis Dunlap, and Sen. Julie Daniels - have graciously agreed to participate in an Education Legislative Forum on Friday, April 7 from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Fine Arts Center Auditorium at Bartlesville High School. The public is invited and encouraged to attend. We particularly hope that parents and grandparents who are able to attend will turn out and participate.